Study: Pesticide exposure may increase Type 2 diabetes risk

INDIANAPOLIS — Researchers in Finland said they have confirmed a link between Type 2 diabetes and pesticides known as persistent organic pollutants, according to a new study in the journal Diabetes Care.

The study is not the first to show a link between the disease and the pollutants, also known as POPs, but it found that patients with the highest exposure to such chemicals as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, and oxychlordane had a risk of Type 2 diabetes up to more than twice as high as those with the lowest levels of exposure, especially if they were overweight.

The researchers, led by Riikka Airaksinen of the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Kuopio, Finland, selected 1,988 participants from a cohort of 8,760 people born in Helsinki between 1934 and 1944, before the global peak in POP emissions.

Another study, conducted among 725 elderly people in Uppsala, Sweden, and also published in Diabetes Care, also found a link between exposure to POPs and Type 2 diabetes.

While many of the pesticides have been banned or restricted, they build up in the environment and collect in the fatty tissue of animals and people. An earlier study, published in the journal in 2007 and led by Lee Duk-Hee of Kyungpook National University in Daegu, Korea, who also was involved in the Swedish study, found that exposure to POPs increased insulin resistance, a known factor in Type 2 diabetes.

Poll

Poll

Which of the current U.S. Presidential hopefuls do you think would be best for your business?

Hillary Clinton

Jeb Bush

Donald Trump

Ted Cruz

Ben Carson

Scott Walker

Marco Rubio

Rand Paul

Chris Christie

Mike Huckabee

SPECIAL REPORTS

Pharmacy’s battle for recognition continues

Fifty years ago this summer, President Lyndon B. Johnson secured his place in history by signing into law the legislation that created Medicare and Medicaid. To commemorate the anniversary, Drug Store News has put together an exclusive report on the effect that Medicare and Medicaid have had on the retail pharmacy industry and how it has transformed the role of the pharmacist. more...

IN THIS ISSUE

In this issue, DSN profiles Rite Aid and how the company is achieving a vision to become a retail healthcare company that delivers a higher level of care to its communities; takes you on a tour of Sears; offers insight into millennial shoppers and more. Click here to view the issue.